Information You Need to Stay Stronger, Together. In this edition...
Strength in Numbers: Share R.O.A.D. Ready month with your Colleagues!
Member Spotlight: City of Houston Partners with Houston Community College
What Members Should Know About the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program
Service in Focus: TML Risk Pool’s Partnership Award
Meet a Trustee: Carol Loughlin
Risk Management Minute: Holiday Bonuses
T.I.P.S. Sheet: Are You Prepared for Winter Weather?
Read Our Latest Blogs
Upcoming Loss Prevention Training
Strength in Numbers: Share R.O.A.D. Ready month with your Colleagues!
Congratulations to the over 100 TML Risk Pool Members that are now R.O.A.D. Ready! Being R.O.A.D. Ready (Recognize, Observe, Assess, Determine) means your organization is committed to continuously improving employee safety related to operations near or on roadways.
The R.O.A.D. Ready initiative is simple but very important. Working near or on roadways – while necessary – is dangerous. That’s especially true for employees who respond to roadway incidents, conduct roadway repair, or engage in right-of-way operations. But it’s also true for tasks like debris removal, traffic stops, accident scene response, graffiti abatement, and others.
In fact, local media outlets have recently reported the loss of six dedicated public servants along Texas roadways. The loss of these members of the local government family in Texas is tragic. Rather than sit idle in the face of these tragedies, many of you decided to act and join us as we spread a culture of safety.
The Pool has designated January as R.O.A.D. Ready month to continue raising awareness of roadway safety. Keep up your good work and spread the word to your colleagues in neighboring local governments!
Member Spotlight: City of Houston Partners with Houston Community College - Disaster Mitigation Training for Citizens and First Responders
The City of Houston has joined the Houston Community College System (HCC) to train 500,000 citizens, employees, volunteers, and first responders to prepare for, recover from, adapt to, and manage disasters.
To do this, HCC has launched a first-in-the-Nation “Resiliency Center of Excellence” to connect residents, employers, civic-community organizations, neighborhoods, and small businesses with fast-tracked education and certification for disaster risk mitigation.
To address all manner of perils, HCC’s Resiliency Center of Excellence includes training programs such as public safety and rescue, disaster case management, enhanced facility and infrastructure construction, medical triage, data science-Internet of things-drones, debris removal-reuse, and customized employer content.
And at the core of the Resilience Center of Excellence is the Resiliency Operations Center (ROC). This one-of-a-kind complex – to be built on the HCC Northeast Campus – is where 3,000 to 4,000 local, regional, and national first responders a year will safely train in authentic field and virtual simulations of high and swift water rescues. The ROC will also provide training for electric high-Line and petrochemical worker to mitigate damage to and repair critical infrastructure.
HCC’s vision is for “a stronger, more resilient Houston where every citizen possesses the knowledge to prepare for, recover from, adapt to, manage in multiple hazards including major flood events, fires, spills and leaks, pandemics, and freezes; where every business can be future proofed from potential disaster scenarios across residential, commercial, industrial, and public facilities.”
What Members Should Know About the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency recently released the notice of funding opportunity for the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. This program is funded through the federal Infrastructure Law and provides a total of $1 billion dollars in cybersecurity related funding over the next four years, with $185 million dollars available for Fiscal Year 2022. This program aims to support state, local, and territorial efforts to address cyber risks that threaten their information systems. Through the funding, state and local governments will be better equipped to address cybersecurity risks, strengthen the cybersecurity of their critical infrastructure, and ensure resilience against persistent cyber threats for the services the government organization provides. In Texas, funding will likely be available from the state in 2023, and Pool staff will provide updates on how to apply as it becomes available.
Service in Focus: TML Risk Pool’s Partnership Award
The TML Risk Pool’s Partnership Award is presented to members who meet certain criteria and exhibit exemplary service to their communities, strengthen the bond between Pool Members, and espouse the Core Values of Integrity, Public Service, Fiscal Responsibility, and Operational Excellence. Check out our recent recipients and let us know if your local government has a program you’d like to submit!
Meet a Trustee: Carol Loughlin
For the latest installment of “Meet a Trustee,” the Pool interviewed Former Trustee Carol Loughlin, who retired from the Board of Trustees in October. Carol was on staff with the Pool for over 30 years prior to that, where she served as Executive Director from 2012-2016. After retiring, she served on the board for six years. Denying conventional wisdom. That’s what the Pool is all about, according to Carol. “I can’t reiterate enough – when it comes to the Pool, don’t follow conventional wisdom. This great idea would never have gotten off the ground had they done so almost 50 years ago. The insurance industry simply failed local governments, and the Pool from the beginning was based on the idea that any public entity could find a home here.” (Read more.)
Risk Management Minute: Holiday Bonuses
Q: May a city give employees a holiday bonus?
A: Yes, but only if the bonus is included in the budget and is part of a pre-prepared overall compensation package. Cities are prohibited from giving retroactive employee pay increases or bonuses that aren’t agreed upon before work begins. That’s because Article III, Section 53, of the Texas Constitution states that “[t]he Legislature shall have no power to grant, or to authorize any…municipal authority to grant, any extra compensation, fee or allowance to a public officer, agent, servant or contractor, after service has been rendered…” The safest way for a city to avoid running afoul of that provision is to: (1) provide for the holiday bonus in the budget and personnel policies; and (2) offer it before the work is performed. In other words, a city that finds itself with extra funds at the end of the year can’t simply hand the money out to employees. According to an attorney general opinion, a city policy could authorize a bonus in the event of a high evaluation — for example, over a certain score — and provide that the pre-budgeted bonus is given only in that instance. The bonus in that case would not be "extra compensation" because it would be a term of employee compensation in place before the employee rendered services.
T.I.P.S. Sheet: Are You Prepared for Winter Weather? Winter storm URI taught us that no parts of the state are off-limits when it comes to winter weather and freeze damage, icy roads, power outages, and more. From the panhandle to the coast, every governmental entity has a story regarding Uri. Members' incurred losses totaled more than $70,000,000. Of course, preparation is vital to mitigating damage, and the information in this T.I.P.S. Sheet can help.
Read Our Latest Blogs: Brownsville: Strategic City on Texas Border Enjoys Clean Air, Low Crime and more!
Upcoming Loss Prevention Training: Resilience Strategies for Law Enforcement and more!
Here’s a list of upcoming loss prevention training. The events calendar has registration details.
